Neal Smatresk

Neal Smatresk
16th President of the University of North Texas
Incumbent
Assumed office February 3, 2014
Preceded by	Veldon Lane Rawlins, PhD
9th President of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas
In office August 6, 2009 – January 2014
Preceded by	David Brian Ashley, PhD
Succeeded by	Leonard Michael Jessup, PhD
Personal details
Born	July 9, 1951 New York, U.S.
Nationality	American
Spouse(s)	Deborah Ann (née Hoddick) (married for thirty-seven years)
Alma mater	Gettysburg, BA (1973) Buffalo, SUNY MA (1978) UT Austin, PhD (1980) Penn, post doc
Website	president.unt.edu

Neal Joseph Smatresk, PhD (pronounced SMAH-tresk;^[1] born July 9, 1951 in New York) is an American academic research biologist, physiologist, and university president, who, on February 3, 2014, became President of the University of North Texas, Denton.^[2] He had been President of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, a position he had held since August 6, 2009.^[3] At age sixty-four, Smatresk is in his thirty-fourth year as an academician in higher education. Twenty-four of those years have been in the State of Texas.

Career

Academic research and teaching

In 1979, Smatresk participated in a research expedition of alpha helix in Micronesia under the auspices of the National Science Foundation. From 1980 to 1982, Smatresk was a National Institutes of Health trainee at University Pennsylvania School of Medicine in Philadelphia. From 1982 to 2004, he served on the faculty at The University of Texas at Arlington — from 1982 to 1988, he was Assistant Professor of Biology, from 1988 to 1994, he was Associate Professor of Biology, from 1994 to 1998, he was Chairman of the Biology Department, and from 1998 to 2004, he was Dean of Science. While at UT Arlington, Smatresk chiefly researched how respiratory neurobiology of vertebrates changes during the evolutionary transition from aquatic breathing to aerial breathing.^[4]

Smatresk has published over 50 papers and book chapters in the field of marine biology and cardiorespiratory physiology and has won grants from the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health.^[5]

Executive roles in higher education

From 2004 to 2007, Smatresk served at the University of Hawaii at Manoa as Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs (aka Chief Academic Officer). From 2007 to 2009, Smatresk served at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, as Executive Vice President and Provost. Then on July 10, 2009, Smatresk stepped-in as Acting President, and on August 6, 2009, he became President. On February 3, 2014, Smatresk became the President of the University of North Texas.

Formal education

Smatresk earned a high school diploma from Kenmore West Senior High School, Tonawanda, New York (1969). He went on to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree in biology from Gettysburg College (1973; awarded Distinguished Alumnus in 2011). He then earned a Master of Arts degree in biology from the University at Buffalo, The State University of New York (1978). And finally, he earned a PhD in zoology and marine science from the University of Texas at Austin through its Marine Science Institute at Port Aransas (1980). Smatresk did postdoctoral training at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.^[6][7]

Smatresk's extracurricular activities in high school included interscholastic sports, namely track and field — the high jump. Smatresk sang in the Kenmore High School and Gettysburg College choirs, the latter of which toured every year. In December 1970, Smatresk performed with the Gettysburg College Choir at the White House for President Richard Nixon.^[8]

Family

The surname Smatresk is Finland Swedish. Smatresk's paternal grandparents, Joseph Henry Smatresk (1887–1971) and Ellen Louise (née Gustafson; 1891–1964) immigrated to the United States from Finland — Joseph in 1905 and Ellen in 1893. After marrying in Washington, New York, in 1912, his grandparents settled in West Rutland. The native language for both sets of grandparents was Swedish.

References

1. "Quick Guide to Pronouncing 'Smatresk,' Last Name of the New UNLV President," by Emily Richmond, Las Vegas Sun, August 19, 2009
2. "Popular UNLV President Neal Smatresk Named Sole Finalist for University of North Texas Job," by Paul Takahashi, Las Vegas Sun, distributed by McClatchy – Tribune Business News, November 20, 2013
3. Lake, Richard (July 10, 2009). "Ashley's contract not renewed; Smatresk is now the acting president". Las Vegas Review-Journal. Retrieved January 19, 2010.
4. Alumni Awards — Neal J. Smatresk ’73, Gettysburg (Gettysburg College alumni magazine), Summer 2011
5. "Neal Smatresk's bio," Office of the President (president.unt.edu), University of North Texas (retrieved January 15, 2015)
6. American Men and Women of Science, Smatresk is in Vol. 6 (all listed editions have 8 volumes) ISSN 0192-8570
   • 16th ed., (1986) OCLC 13680380
   • 17th ed., 1989–1990 (1989) OCLC 19371135
   • 18th ed., 1992–1993, (1992) OCLC 25174652
   • 19th ed., 1995–1996 (1994) OCLC 31698718
   • 20th ed., 1998–1999 (1998) OCLC 38571849
   • 21st ed., (2003) OCLC 51072927
   • 22nd ed., (2005) OCLC 56991479
   • 23rd ed., (2006) OCLC 77517165
7. Marquis Who's Who OCLC 4779221853
   Who's Who in America, Smatresk is in Vol. 2 (all listed editions have 3 volumes)

   • 54th ed., 2000, (1999) OCLC 40048997
   • 55th ed., 2001, (2000) OCLC 42920692
   • 56th ed., 2002, (2001) OCLC 45204099
   • 57th ed., 2003, (2002) OCLC 48556900
   • 58th ed., 2004, (2003) OCLC 53934007
   Who's Who in Medicine and Healthcare, 1st edition, 1996–1997 (1997) OCLC 38070224; ISSN 0000-1708
   Who's Who in the South and Southwest, 23rd edition, 1993–1994 (1993) OCLC 27942179
   Who's Who in the World, 17th edition, 2000 (1999) OCLC 43606896
8. "Local Student Sings at White House With College Choir," Tonawanda News, December 31, 1970, Col. 2

External links

• UNLV President's site